COVID – 19: A Virus That Shutdown The World

The Coronavirus pandemic shook the whole world like a storm and succeeded in destroying the global economy


Never in the recent history of the world have there been a disease that has created so much panic across the world. The Corona virus, code named covid-19 is a virus that does not respect status or color or class or religion. That is why it creeps into the homes of the powerful and brings powerful men and women on their knees. It subdues the mighty and sends shock waves to the most feared and respected men of God.

Corona virus has become a leveler of some sort in the society. Everybody, including women and children now wears face mask for the fear of Covid-19. Not only that, even the leaders of world super powers who before Covid-19 held the rest of the world in contempt, forcing them to quack when they cough now hide under the cover of their bed sheets in what has become our latest medical lexicon, self-isolation.

Maybe, the world has underestimated the gruesome power of Covid-19 when it reared its ugly head in the city of Wuhan, China in December 2019. Maybe they have mistaken the virus as one of the common viruses they are used to like common flu or catarrh. But Covid-19 has proved the world wrong. Like the devil, it came with a mission to steal, kill and destroy. What started as an epidemic in Wuhan, China has turned out to be a global pandemic with over 7,998,387 confirmed cases and nearly 401,970 deaths as at the time of filing this report on June 15th. Africa has 233,528, Asia 1, 557,541 cases, America has 3,788,548 cases, Europe has 2,170,600 cases and Oceania 8,766 cases. No case has so far been reported in Antarctica. According to John Hopkins University Covid-19 dashboard which collates information from national and international health authorities, the disease has been detected in more than 230 countries and territories with United States of America, Brazil, Russia, Italy and Spain experiencing the widest spread out breaks outside China. South American country, Brazil is heading as the new epicenter with 867, 882 cases and 42, 720 deaths.

As at June 15, 2020, the United Kingdom has 286,194 confirmed cases and 41,662 deaths from the corona virus pandemic. The United States of America has become the epic-centre of the Covid-19 outbreak thereby becoming the first country to surpass China in confirmed cases of the virus with 2,162,228 confirmed cases and 115,436 deaths. This figure has put the U.S President, Donald Trump into panic mode that he called for help from China and other countries whose medical personnel could be procured to tame the continued growth of the pandemic in the country. Russia, one of the recently worst affected country now has 528, 964; Italy has recorded over 34,301 deaths with 236,651 cases, while Spain has 243,605 cases and 27,136 deaths as at the time of this report. Unfortunately the pandemic crisis has continued to rise globally and appears to defy efforts made by world leaders and the World Health Organization to contain its spread.

The situation is the same in most African and third world countries including Nigeria. National Centre for Disease Control, NCDC has said that there are 16,085 confirmed cases of the virus in Nigeria with 420 deaths as at the time of filing these reports. 5220 patients have so far recovered from the virus which has now recorded cases in 35 states and Abuja.

The rapid outbreak of the Covid-19 presented an alarming health crisis which the world is still grappling with. Apart from the crisis the pandemic created for humanity, there is significant economic, business and commercial crisis caused by the pandemic globally. As viruses know no borders, the effects of Corona virus on world economy will continue to soar for many years if not more than a decade. Like other viruses before it, such as ebola, zika and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) faded away, the dreaded Covid-19 pandemic is expected to reduce drastically with time.

But, the social–economic effect of the pandemic will live with the world for long after the virus must have been contained considerably. While the world grapples with the negative impact of Covid-19, it is important to look at the businesses most hit by Covid-19 pandemic. The biggest industry affected by corona virus pandemic all over the world are tourism and aviation. The lockdown and travel restrictions imposed by most governments and their agencies have caused a huge drop in demand among travellers. AVIATION
The aviation industry would suffer the impact from the Covid -19 crisis for years. It would take the market many years if not a decade before it will bounce back to pre-crisis levels. There is expected drastic reduction of fleets, staff cut, accelerated closure of security measures and sluggish demands. It is sad to note that the aviation industry in Nigeria lost N21 Billion monthly to Covid-19 since the outbreak of the dreaded virus. Hadi Sirika, minister of aviation disclosed this at the daily presidential task force on Covid-19 briefing in Abuja. He explained that the huge loss is due to lack of activities in the aviation sector whose income solely depends on flight operation.

“In aviation, we are in a very difficult moment like everyone else. But we are the worst hit than any other sector based on the trend of events before Covid -19. The total loss is about N21 billion approximately, plus about N3 billion tangentially. Sirika broke down his figures in this form; N7 billion for aviation agencies which they lose monthly; N10 billion for the airlines and N4 billion for ground handling. Catering and others make up the tangential N3 billon, he said.

The Covid-19 pandemic has taken a toll on all sectors of the Nigerian economy. On March 23, the Nigeria government shutdown all international airports in the country for an initial period of one month. Local airport were also shutdown days later to check the spread of the pandemic. After the expiration of the one month closure, government announced further extension of the airport closure for another two weeks. Later another four weeks extension was announced when it appeared the spikes and cases of Covid-19 kept rising. No doubt, the move was part of efforts to contain the spread of the virus which has affected over seven million people globally and caused more than 400,000 deaths.

However, government allowed emergency and essential flights operations from many airports within the period. Regrettably, the minister revealed that statistics from the international Airline Transport Association (IATA) on Covid -19 economic impact on Nigeria has a revenue loss of 994 million dollars. In terms of employment risk in Nigeria, he reported a further job loss of 125,390 and loss of contribution to the GDP is 885 million dollars.

Post Covid-19
The minister bemoaned the pathetic situation of the aviation, saying he doubts if many airlines will come out of it. “They will not be able to just open up after closing for several weeks and start flying. For example, if you park your car for several weeks and you come back to start it after six months, the car will develop a problem”. “So the airlines have been kept and when we are going to bring them back, we will make sure they are air worthy and they can make those flights safely. “So also the flight crew, those flying the airplanes. They have certain standards they must equally conform with”, he said.

SPORTS
The world football governing body, FIFA has said the corona virus cases had a big financial impact across the sport and the global governing body hopes to finalize plans for a relief package for clubs at its next council meeting later this month. The pandemic and its effects has led to calls for financial reform across cash - rich industry and the FIFA President Infantino has encouraged discussion on the matter.

From salary cuts to transfer fee cuts or other taxation mechanisms, to the possible obligation for governing bodies, competition organizers and clubs to build reserves or to contribute to a reserve fund which can be of assistance in hours of need such as now. “I personally advocate for clearer and stricter financial regulations, imposing full transparency and good governance principles, and not limiting this to the transfer system, but to the entire football ecosystem”, the FIFA boss stated. Even the 2020 Olympics games slated for Japan in June was cancelled due to the pandemic leading to loss of revenue, endorsements and ticketing rights.

HOSPITALITY
It is no secret that the hospitality industry is one of the worst hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with many of the workers either out of work or losing hours due to travel restrictions. The shutdown of business or social distancing in hotels in Nigeria and other places across the globe have resulted in their experiencing low patronage. Some even shut down completely to cut down on the cost of running the business. The film and entertainment industry suffered the weight of the coronavirus crisis. It experienced substantial negative impact as movie theatres were shut down, and exhibitions, movie premiers and musical concerts were either cancelled or postponed indefinitely. In fact billions of naira worth of deals have been lost in the sector to Covid- 19 pandemic.

OIL AND GAS
The oil and gas sector has been badly hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The lockdown and travel restriction have led to a huge drop in oil demand and cash in crude oil prices globally. The intervention of OPEC and top oil producing countries through output cut has still not impacted on oil prices or stabilized the market.

TRADE The Covid-19 pandemic also affected the trade and commerce sector negatively, owing to the shutdown of factories, reduced access to raw materials due to supply chain challenges. Trillions of naira worth of trade for both imports and exports were lost due to the lock down of seaports and airports and border closure. China, where the Covid -19 pandemic emanated is crucial to world trade and with its integration in the global value chain and as main supplier and buyers of intermediates inputs, the disruptions the country is dealing with has adversely affected international trade.

REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION
With the drop in income and loss of jobs occasioned by the pandemic crisis, the interest in acquiring new houses by property buyers is substantially reduced. The Stay at Home order and Movement restriction and social distancing also affected construction activities across the country with individuals and corporate bodies applying safety measures.

MANUFACTURING
The virus also impacted negatively on the manufacturing sector, as production lines and factories were shut down as a result of the lockdown.

START UPS AND SMALL BUSINESSES
The Covid-19 pandemic ensured that owners of small business and startups entrepreneurs think outside the box on how to survive the post Covid -19 era. Most of them have to look for small loans here and there to inject into their businesses or remain consumed by the impacts of the pandemic. The preventive measures taken by government has left small business most vulnerable.

CONSULTANTS AND SERVICES
Consultants and service providers were also negatively affected by Covid -19 pandemic as the drops in revenue by corporate organisations, blue-chip companies and agencies of government due to the economic meltdown occasioned by the outbreak of the virus will definitely lead to tightening of budgets which will in turn affect the consultants and their services, leading to loss of jobs.